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BICYCLE FACILITIES IN THE NETHERLANDS

In the Netherlands of the present there are 250 cars, 150 mopeds and 500 bicycles per 1000 inhabitants. Despite a decline in the use of bicycle and moped, about 30 to 35% of trips are still made on these two modes of transport. To improve the relative safety of cyclists and moped-riders, efforts are being made to keep them separate from automobiles. This has led to the large-scale construction of separate paths for use by both cyclists and moped-riders. The position of dominance currently held by the private car in the Netherlands has created a number of problems particularly in the cities. The larger cities are now obliged to draw up a traffic management scheme in which encouragement has to be given to the use of the bicycle and moped as an alternative to the car, particularly for home-work and home-school traffic. One way of doing this is to expand the facilities that have always existed. Other methods are to construct special high-quality bicycle and moped routes from the residential areas to the city centres. Two demonstration routes have now been built and an extensive study program set up to examine the effects the two routes have.

Supplemental Notes:

Compendium of Technical Papers of the 47th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Transportation Engineers at the Fourth World Transportation Engineers Conference, Mexico City, October 2-6, 1977.